Our Gorgeous Baby by Smriti Halls - Illustrated by Eve Coy #BookReview

 

Our baby's eyes are NOT brighter than the sun...

And NO, she's NOT light as a feather...

***

A charmingly funny picture book that celebrates the unconditional love a family has for their slurpy, burpy and boisterous new baby!

Smriti was inspired to write Our Gorgeous Baby after reading Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130. With lyrical humour the story reflects the routine chaos a new baby brings upon a family and – in so doing – shows that even the slurpiest, burpiest, noisiest, smelliest and messiest of babies (multiple night-time wakings included) is no challenge whatsoever to the unbreakable bond and endless and unconditional love, care and affection a family has for their gorgeous baby.

***

This book could not have been more timely for me when it arrived this week. I had a new granddaughter make her entrance into the world just a few days ago. Of course, she is utterly gorgeous and this book epitomises how every big brother or sister might view a new arrival.

Written throughout in rhyme the book is beautifully illustrated. These support the text perfectly, and young children will adore following them. They add further to the story and there is much that adults can share with their little ones in the book.

Aimed at the preschool age group young children will enjoy having this book read to them and equally will enjoy looking at the colourful pictures themselves.

It has a timeless quality to it and portrays the burping, dirty nappies and sleepless nights which accompany the arrival of a new baby. It is done in a loving and charming way that parents and children alike will enjoy.

My son and his family do not live locally and so have yet to meet our latest addition to the family. Needless to say, I can hardly wait to meet her and have a cuddle, and I cannot wait to share this book with her two year old brother who will definitely be able to identify with it.

ISBN:  978 1406391770

Publisher:  Walker Books

Formats:  Hardback

No. of Pages:  32

About the Author:

Smriti Halls is an award-winning, critically acclaimed children’s author. Since publication of her first picture book in 2012, she has had a U.S. number 1 bestseller and been published in more than 30 languages, from Arabic to Afrikaans and from Catalan to Korean.

With a cast of characters as varied as mischievous monsters and disgruntled geese, she explores relationship and identity; the personal and the political; how it feels to be in your own skin — and in someone else’s. Her books, often fast-paced and funny or lyrical and tender, are always full of hope and heart and speak to the child in all of us.

 

Several of her books have been nominated and shortlisted for national awards. The Little Island (illustrated by Robert Starling) is currently shortlisted for the 2020 Teach Primary Awards and the 2020 Little Rebels Award.

Smriti works extensively with the Bedtime Stories Prison Project, helping parents in prison stay connected with their children at home through stories. She has been interviewed about this work by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and The Guardian.

Smriti has been a judge for several awards and prizes, including the Stratford Salariya Prize, Faber's FAB Award and the Booktrust Lifetime Achievement Award. She is currently BookTrust’s Writer in Residence.

South Indian by birth, British by nationality and London-loving by heart, Smriti lives near Richmond Park with her husband and their three sons, reading, writing and eating iced buns. 

(Book courtesy of the publisher)

(author media coutesy of her website)

(all opinions are my own)

Kings & Queens: Alfred the Great to King Charles III and Everyone In-Between by Marcia Williams - #BookReview

 

Dear wingless creatures, may I present "The Royal Timeline"! Just let your finger do the walking from me, Caw, to our earliest king and onwards all the way to the present day. Yes, I'm brilliant, I know. The idea just flew into my brain by way of my crown!

But... Let's start with the king who had the bright idea of a king of all England - and then meet every one of the 59 kings and queens that followed after him!

***

Meet every king and queen in the history of Britain in this lively comic-strip guide from award-winning author-illustrator Marcia Williams.

From medieval monarchs to the newly crowned King Charles III, join award-winning author-illustrator Marcia Williams on an entertaining guide to every king and queen of Britain. Discover the kings who fought off the Vikings, the queen who spent the longest time on the throne, the king who died from eating too much fish, and many more. Featuring famous faces like Henry VIII and Elizabeth II, plus the lesser-known stories of the daring, the caring and the cruel who have worn the crown, this is an accessible and engaging introduction to the kings and queens of Britain, sure to inspire even reluctant readers.

***

In my humble opinion, every school library should have a copy of this book as it has so much to offer. 

Written throughout in comic strip form, the book covers the period from 871 with the reign of Alfred the Great and finishes with our present monarch, King Charles III. As well as text below each picture, the illustrations themselves have speech bubbles from the mouths of the monarchs themselves.

Add to that the book is narrated by a royal raven called Caw, and you have a fantastic book that will appeal to junior school/middle grade aged children. Caw provides many little facts and witticisms as he flies from page to page and is a fantastic creation by the author.

The book looks to the future and concludes with a diagram of the current royal line of succession, starting with Prince William and ending with Princess Lilibet, although the author indicates that there are many more following.

This is a fantastic book which I highly recommend. Any child interested in history will enjoy this book and because of its witty and engaging style, I think many other children will enjoy it too.

ISBN: 978 1529512755

Publisher:  Walker Books

Formats:  Hardcover

No. of Pages:  32

Purchase Link - Bookshop.org*

About the Author:

As a child:

Marcia Williams’ mother was a writer and her father was a playwright and theatre director. She spent the early part of her life in Canton, Hong Kong, Nigeria and the Middle East with her mother and diplomat stepfather. She loved books from an early age and remembers being read to almost every night. “I would often be scared, especially by fairy tales, but I never wanted the stories to end.” She went to boarding school in Sussex, from where she sent weekly illustrated letters to her parents overseas.

As an adult:

Marcia didn’t receive any formal art training. She calls herself "an obsessive illustrator" and says, "I’ve just always done it. I never consciously thought: that’s what I want to do.” She had a number of jobs, including nursery teacher, which is when she developed her taste for story-telling to young children; “I learnt what they found accessible and what they enjoyed.” Giving up teaching to paint, she studied watercolour at Richmond College and held some successful local exhibitions before a friend suggested that she took her work to show Walker Books. Marcia also has an MA in Children’s Literature. She lives in London and has two grown-up children and three grandchildren, one extra-large dog and a cat.

As an artist:

Marcia has written and illustrated numerous books since The First Christmas was published in 1987. Many of these have been retellings of classic stories, illustrated in her distinctive cartoon-strip style. She has also applied her characteristic storytelling to history, with award-winning books about the World Wars (Archie’s War and My Secret War Diary by Flossie Albright), Greek Myths and The Stone Age. She works in watercolours, which, she says, “are just unreliable enough to be interesting”. She has retold many of Shakespeare’s plays and taken to the boards herself to play the Bard in a production based on her books, Mr William Shakespeare’s Plays, and Bravo, Mr William Shakespeare! – culminating in a performance in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Purchase Link - Bookshop.org* 

(Book and all author info. courtesy of Walker Books)

(all opinions are my own)

*Disclosure: I only recommend books I would buy myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains an affiliate link from which I may earn a small commission.